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Jeremy Corbyn promises rent controls and clampdown on gentrification Jeremy Corbyn: neoliberalism is broken and we are now the centre ground
(about 4 hours later)
Jeremy Corbyn has pledged that a Labour government would give cities the power to introduce rent controls and introduce tough restrictions on gentrification projects, invoking the memory of the Grenfell Tower fire. Jeremy Corbyn has described the “chilling wreckage of Grenfell Tower” as a monument to a broken neoliberal economic model in a keynote speech promising that a Labour government would “do politics differently”.
In a speech on the final day of Labour’s annual conference in Brighton, Corbyn said that regeneration schemes had often been cover for “social cleansing”. The Labour leader pledged that his party would introduce rent controls, crack down on gentrification projects and ensure that tenants on estates being redeveloped would be allowed to return to them once they were rebuilt.
Councils would have to win a ballot of existing tenants and leaseholders before any redevelopment scheme could take place under a Labour government, he said. Addressing his first conference since stripping Theresa May of a majority in June, Corbyn used the speech to put forward his long-held belief that the neoliberal economic model “forged by Margaret Thatcher many years ago” was broken.
The party would also ensure people who lived on an estate that had been redeveloped could remain after the work was completed, Corbyn promised. “No social cleansing. No jacking up rents. No exorbitant ground rents,” he said. The Labour leader argued that the centre ground had shifted and was not where “establishment pundits” claimed it to be. “This is the real centre of gravity of British politics. We are now the political mainstream,” he said, contrasting Labour’s enthusiasm with a Conservative party he claimed was “bereft of ideas and energy”.
Corbyn attacked the failures of government and management surrounding the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. “No social cleansing. No jacking up rents. No exorbitant ground rents,” said Corbyn as he moved on to housing policy during the 75-minute speech to his party’s annual conference in Brighton. “If you want to see how the poor die, come see Grenfell Tower,” he proclaimed, quoting the poet and novelist Ben Okri.
“It was not just the result of failed political decisions, it stands for a broken system that Labour must and will replace,” he said, quoting a poem from one of his favourite writers Ben Okri, written after the deadly fire in the Kensington tower block. The Labour leader argued that the election result had forced the Tories to drop policies including the so-called dementia tax, plans to means test the winter fuel allowance, proposals for more grammar schools and the prospect of fox-hunting being brought back in.
The Labour leader said his party would comprehensively review social housing policy, which the Grenfell Tower inquiry has been criticised for not addressing. “They seem to be cherry-picking Labour policies instead, including on Brexit,” said Corbyn.
“Tenants are not being listened to,” he said. ”We will insist that every home is fit for human habitation – a proposal this Tory government voted down.” “I say to the prime minister: You’re welcome. But go the whole hog - end austerity, abolish tuition fees, scrap the public sector pay cap.”
He also said a Labour government under his leadership would control rents, a promise likely to appeal to many of his younger supporters hit by the housing crisis. He said the Labour party was ready for government, mocking May’s election slogan by adding: “They are not strong and they are definitely not stable. They are hanging on by their fingertips.”
The pledge on rent in Wednesday’s speech goes further than the party’s 2017 manifesto promise, which was to consult on controlling rent rises above inflation, by promising action will be taken. The Labour leader had earlier emerged into the hall to chants of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” from cheering delegates, some of whom waved red scarves above their heads. “It is quite infectious, let’s make sure the whole country is infected with the same thing,” he said of the enthusiasm in the hall.
“Rent controls exist in many cities across the world and I want our cities to have those powers too and tenants to have those protections,” Corbyn told the packed conference hall, watched on stage by more than 30 MPs who had gained seats in the party’s shock success in the general election. Corbyn also attacked the media in the speech, saying they were “under instruction from their tax-exile owners to destroy the Labour party”. He said one paper had devoted 14-pages to attacking Labour, and the vote had gone up 14 points. “Never have so many trees died in vain,” he said. “Here is a message to the Daily Mail editor – next time make it 28 pages.”
Welcomed on to the stage to chants of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, the Labour leader looked confident and cheerful as he spoke of renewed unity in the party, saying Labour was “on the threshold of power”. Corbyn said Diane Abbott had borne the brunt of much of the abuse – a line which saw the conference hall rise in standing ovation and sing Happy Birthday to the shadow home secretary. “She suffered intolerable misogynist and racist abuse,” he said.
Corbyn said his message to the country was that Labour was “ready, ready to tackle inequality, ready to rebuild our NHS and ready to give opportunity to our young people, dignity and security to all older people”. In a nod to the party rule change on abuse passed on Tuesday, he continued: “There can never ever be any excuse for any abuse of anyone, we are not having it, not accepting it, not allowing it.”
“We are ready and the Tories are clearly not. They are not strong and they are definitely not stable. They are hanging on by their fingertips.” However, Corbyn was criticised on social media for failing to explicitly mention antisemitism in a week that had seen his party face controversy over comments made at a fringe event.
Corbyn also attacked the media, saying they were “under instruction from their tax-exile owners to destroy the Labour party”. He said one paper had devoted 14 pages to attacking Labour, and the vote had gone up 14 points. “Never have so many trees died in vain,” he said. “Here is a message to the Daily Mail editor: next time make it 28 pages.” The Labour leader’s heaviest attack on the Tory government came over Brexit as he accused them of having a “hopelessly inept negotiating team” and putting “posturing for personal advantage” over the national interest.
Corbyn said the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, had borne the brunt of much of the abuse – a line that led to the conference hall rising to its feet and and singing happy birthday to Abbott. After a week in which Boris Johnson was accused of undermining the prime minister and chancellor before and after a critical speech in Florence, he added: “Never has the national interest been so ill-served on such a vital issue. If there were no other reason for the Tories to go, their self-interested Brexit bungling would be reason enough.
“She suffered intolerable misogynist and racist abuse,” he said. In a nod to the party rule change on abuse passed on Tuesday, he added: “There can never ever be any excuse for any abuse of anyone. We are not having it, not accepting it, not allowing it.” “So I have a simple message to the cabinet: for Britain’s sake pull yourself together or make way.”
Facing pressure within his own party on Brexit over calls to remain permanently in the European Economic Area and maintain free movement, Corbyn promised Labour’s approach would guarantee “unimpeded access to the single market”.
He promised an approach “that puts our economy first, not fake immigration targets that fan the flames of fear. We will never follow the Tories into the gutter of blaming migrants for the ills of society.”
And he promised: “We will do politics differently. And the vital word there is ‘we’. Not just leaders saying things are different, but everyone having the chance to shape our democracy,” he said, arguing that labour would devolve power to communities and make “business accountable to the public, and politicians truly accountable to those we serve”.
“The next Labour government will transform Britain by genuinely putting power in the hands of the people, the creative, compassionate and committed people of our country.”
After the party’s election manifesto, there was a limited amount new policy, including a promise to change the organ donation law and warnings of fines for big companies that failed to complete gender audits.
The most eyecatching promise was to shift Labour policy around rent controls. At the election, the party said it would limit price rises to inflation, but Corbyn appeared to go further.
“Rent controls exist in many cities across the world and I want our cities to have those powers too and tenants to have those protections. We also need to tax undeveloped land held by developers and have the power to compulsorily purchase. As Ed Miliband said: use it or lose it. Families need homes.”
Labour sources said the party would be looking at models of rent control in cities across the world, and insisted that the markets were “dysfunctional”. They said interventionist policies such as keeping rent prices down and nationalising industry were popular with the public.
But there was a backlash from business. Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce claimed there were concerns with both main political parties, “with one flirting with fantasy economics while the other engages in an unedifying playground bust-up”.
He said businesses wanted pragmatism and said companies fearing widespread state intervention would not have been reassured.
The CBI’s Carolyn Fairbairn said there were “few warm words” from the Labour leader.
“Repeated rhetoric on the sins of a handful of businesses does little to reassure anxious entrepreneurs and investors about the UK’s future as a great place to do business.”
And Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said that while business leaders weren’t expecting praise they would be disappointed to hear nothing positive about companies “large and small, that form the bedrock of our economy”.